Fire and smoke damage

Homeowner's insurance claims nowdays require hiring badass lawyer, because all claims get denied whether you have or don't have particular coverages. Insurance companies assume that you broke-ass and wouldn't be able to hire an attorney and get away without paying split penny on all of your losses.
Cleaning expensive audiogear from all that dust and ash will be extremely tedious where you need to go for every cubic mm with brush on every spot or your PCB or chassis. Might be easier to claim loss. The larger your loss is the more it will make sense to hire attorney.
If your loss let's say is lower than attorney fees, then there's nothing you'll be able to do on your own but taking that loss.

czarivey

Homeowner’s insurance claims nowdays require hiring badass lawyer, because all claims get denied whether you have or don’t have particular coverages.

That’s simply false.

Indeed, were it true, you’d have a helluva case in "good faith" states, such as where I live. Denying all claims would be obvious bad faith and easy to prove - you’d be awarded treble damages and attorney’s fees.

The "secret" to collecting on an insurance claim is to document, document, document. Everything. That has to start before the loss is even incurred.

You also must have a replacement value rider in your policy. Years ago I was broken into and I was able to prove what each component cost me and how much it would cost to replace them now. I didn't get full value, however it was over 90%. Since high-end audio is not really covered in a basic policy, you have to get the rider and it will cost a bit more. Also keep copies of receipts and a list of all your gear and what you paid for it somewhere off site or in the cloud so you have that info in a disaster.

to get awarded with attorney's fees, those fees must be reasonable for judge. if they're larger than claim itself, you might only get part or nothing at all.
new normal isn't normal-normal as prior